A quick and appealing read focusing on second chances.
Young competitive rider Abby faces social media bullying from an equestrian rival as she grapples with the consequences of a mistake that haunts her.
In this sequel to Sweet & Bitter Rivals (2023), Abby continues to struggle with her new stepfamily, especially when stepsister Emery doesn’t stand up for her after classmate Nina distributes a video showing Abby in a negative light. When her dad can’t make it to the competition she’s been diligently preparing for because of work, she is devastated, believing his career has yet again taken priority over her. Seeing Emery’s mom, who is Abby’s stepmom, is painful, as Abby laments the absence of her own mother from her life. Her spirits brighten when she starts crushing on Mila, the cute new girl auditioning for the team. Meanwhile, the conflict with archnemesis Nina continues to intensify, leading to an argument at the meet that goes viral on TikTok and may have a destructive effect on the whole team. The book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, setting readers up for the next volume. Abby and Mila are White; the previous book established that Abby’s two best friends are Black and Korean. Abby’s father ultimately plays a supportive role in her journey. Though slow paced at times, this story holds appeal as it deftly explores middle school family and friendship challenges.
A quick and appealing read focusing on second chances. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781665912938
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable.
Six New Jersey 12-year-olds separated by decades race to ensure the “good guys” win World War II in this middle-grade work by the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her brother, a children's author and journalist.
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to communicate across time, it doesn’t take long before they share information that changes history. Can the two sets of kids work across a 79-year divide to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming the Nazi-controlled dystopia of Westfallen? This propulsive thriller includes well-paced cuts between times that keep the pages turning. Like most people in their small New Jersey town, Alice, Artie, and Frances are white. In 1944, Lawrence, who’s Black, endures bigotry; in the U.S.A. of 2023, Henry’s biracial (white and Black) identity and Lukas’ Jewish one are unremarkable, but in Westfallen, Henry’s a “mischling” doing “work-learning,” and Lukas is a menial laborer. Alice’s and Henry’s dual first-person narration zooms in on the adventure, but readers who pull back may find themselves deeply uneasy with the summary consideration paid to the real-life fates of European Jews and disabled people. The cliffhanger ending will have them hoping for more thoughtful treatment in sequels to come.
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781665950817
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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